FANTASY FOOTBALL ARTICLES

Ranking defenses is always a challenge since it is the one fantasy position that is treated very differently in most leagues. The scoring used to establish these ratings were:

• Sacks = 1 point
• Turnover Recovery = 2 points
• Safeties = 2 points
• All Touchdowns = 6 points

This is the most standard version of scoring and is included, at least partially, in almost all leagues.  These ratings reward those four events and within that is why defenses are so hard to accurately gauge from season to season. Some defenses do not come off a great fantasy season because they kept opponent scores low while also not scoring a lot themselves. They lost out to teams like Indianapolis, Seattle and Kansas City   who actually had terrible defenses but scored so many points that their opponents were often trying to catch up via the pass – hence sacks and interceptions.  

In some fantasy leagues, there are points awarded (or deducted) for total score or even touchdowns allowed. Others consider rushing and passing yardage and yet still others account for total yardage allowed. Throw in negative points and the variation becomes even more pronounced.

Even within the same categories, the point awards can vary wildly for defenses and in light of the great variation, the next pages will give a good statistical snapshot of each team over the past four years but will not give fantasy analysis that could be misleading due to the difference in scoring from league to league.

Defenses are often a barometer of how well an NFL team does since it must contend with whatever the offense did or did not accomplish. Teams like Atlanta and Oakland did a nosedive last season offensively and due to that, their defenses turned in a markedly worse season.

To gain an idea of the variation from year to year and to witness the more consistent defenses (good and bad), below shows the final defensive rankings for each NFL team for the past four seasons using the standard defensive scoring cited above. The higher ranked teams had the higher fantasy points scored for each year. You will note that there are many more consistently bad teams than consistently good teams. 

The Ravens, Falcons, Panthers and Patriots are annual fantasy favorites because they offer rare consistency. After last season, the Bills appear to be stocked up and ready to join the “every year” club with others like the Lions, Colts and Seahawks turning in far better fantasy numbers lately then they have NFL production.

The table below indicates just how much variation the standard fantasy scoring causes from year to year for most teams. Seven times in the last three years, a team was a top ten fantasy scorer and yet failed to be worthy of being a back-up defense in the next season. When selecting a defense, your best bet is to remain with the consistently best ones. It may seem tempting to play “the match-up game” each week, but reality will show it requires good defensive personnel and scheme in order to yield those fantasy points – not merely playing a very weak opponent.

Again - this only considers the scoring scenario described above.

Total Defense Points per Team, Ranked 1 (highest) to 32 (lowest) each year

Total Defense Points per Team, Sorted by overall ranking